Pum Opunvkv Pun Yvhiketv Pun Fulletv !"!"!"!" Our Language Our Songs Our Ways Note: This is a draft of a textbook. Some parts are still incomplete. We would be grateful for any comments. -Jack Martin, Margaret Mauldin, Gloria McCarty, 2003. Acknowledgments / Mvtô! These materials were prepared in 2003 at the University of Oklahoma. We are grateful to Dean Paul Bell of the College of Arts and Sciences and Pat Gilman, Chair of Anthropology, for supporting our work. We would also like to thank the many students who have studied Creek with us over the years. The alphabet 8 More on the alphabet 12 Heyv eshoccickvt ôs 'This is a book', Eshoccickvt ôwv? 'Is that a book?' 15 Heyv nâket ôwv? 'What's this?' 17 Heyv cokv cat!t ôs 'This book is red', Mv cokv hvtk!t ôwv? 'Is that book white?' 19 R"kke-mah! 'very big' 23 Cokv-h!cvt ôwis 'I am a student', Mvhayvt #ntskv? Are you a teacher? 24 Heyv cokv tokot ôs 'This is not a book' 26 Vm efv 'my dog', cvcke 'my mother': Possession 28 Likepvs 'Have a seat': Commands 31 Expressing aspect: Grades 33 Progressive aspect: The L-grade 34 Resulting states and intensives: The F- and N-grades 37 The H-grade 40 N!sis 'I'm buying' 42 N!set owis 'I am buying' 44 Overview of the sentence 45 Efv hvmken hêcis 'I see one dog': Numbers 47 Cett#t wâkkes c!! 'There's a snake!': Expressing existence 49 $h-ares 'It's on top of (something)': Locative prefixes 51 More on locative prefixes 53 Ecke tempen lîkes 'He's sitting near his mother': Locative nouns 55 L!tket owv? 'Is he/she running?' 57 Nâken h#mpetska? 'What are you eating?' 59 Letkek#t os 'He/She is not running' 61 Vyvhanis 'I'm going to go', M!car!s 'I will do it' 63 Lêtkvnks 'She ran': Expressing past time 65 Overview of the verb 66 Cvyayvk!n 'quietly': Manner adverbs 67 Mucv-ner! 'tonight': Time words 69 Expanding your vocabulary: -uce 'little' and -r"kk# 'big' 70 Cvnake 'mine' 71 Vce 'corn' vs. hvce 'tail': listening practice 72 Expanding your vocabulary: Adjectives 74 Expanding your vocabulary: Compounds 76 Cvh!ces 'She's looking at me': Patient prefixes for objects 78 Cvn#kk!s 'I'm sick': Patient prefixes for subjects 80 Letketvn ceyâcv? 'Do you want to run?': Verbal nouns 82 Efv lvstat 'the black dog': Definite -at(e) 84 More on the verb #wetv 'to be' 86 H#puetake 'children': Plural nouns 87 Nvfkakes 'They're hitting him': Plural verbs and adjectives 89 L#p#ck!s 'They're small': Irregular plural verbs and adjectives 91 Tepâket 'together', H#mpvks c!! 'Y'all eat!', Vpeyvk!s! 'Let's go!' 93 %h!ces 'He's looking at himself', Eteh!c!s 'We're looking at each other' 95 Expanding your vocabulary: l!tkv 'runner', yvhikv 'singer' 97 Vm estelepikv lvslvt!t ôs 'My shoes are black': More plural adjectives 99 Em #punayes 'He/She is speaking to/for (someone)': Dative em 101 Esh#mpes 'He/She is eating with (something)': Instrumental es- 103 Efvt al!tkes 'A dog is running this way': Directional prefixes 104 Avm #panes 'He/She is dancing with me' 106 'Svm mah!t ôs 'He/She is taller than me' 108 Punayvy!s 'I speak': Habits; l#cv tat 'now the turtle' 111 N!s! wît!s 'He/She might buy it', Cem vnicvko tâyes 'I can't help you' 113 Efvt wohkvc#ks 'There's a dog barking': Evidential -vc#k- 115 Expanding your vocabulary: Kaces 'He's breaking it', Kvck!s 'It's broken' 116 Higher numbers 117 Ec#t tasket ares 'A deer is going about jumping': Non-final clauses 119 Mv cvpofv "hyet eroran 'When he got to the field' 121 Vtotkof 'When she's working', Vtotkekv 'Because she's working': Adverbial clauses 122 Vtotkis 'Even though she's working', Vtotken owat 'If she's working' 124 Mv este hûerat 'the man standing there': Relative clauses 125 Expanding your vocabulary: eletv 'to die', el!cetv 'to kill' 127 Cufet okat: Quoting someone. 128 &hyetskvs! 'Don't go!'; &hyvkos 'I will not go'; M!cvccvs 'you must do it' 130 Estimv 'who, someone, anyone': Indefinite pronouns 132 Reporting speech, thought, and perception 134 'Casual' activities: -ep- 136 Appendix 137 Vocabulary: Creek-English 141 Vocabulary: English-Creek 148 The Creek (Muskogee) language ________________________________________________________ Vocabulary est!nkô how are you? ehe! yes est!nkis os I'm fine m!nks, m!nko no mvtô thank you enkâ okay h"r's ci hello hv! okay (in answer to a request) ________________________________________________________ Creek (or Muskogee, Muscogee) is a living language spoken in Oklahoma and Florida. It was formerly spoken by a number of etvlwv or small tribes in what is now Alabama and Georgia. Some groups speaking Creek migrated to Florida in the 1700's, where they became known as Seminoles. In the 1830's, most Creeks and Seminoles were forced to move to Indian Territory. Today, Creek is spoken in three locations: •the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma •the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma •the Seminole Tribe of Florida Historically, the capital of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation was Okmulgee (Creek #kmulke). The old tribal headquarters is now the Creek Council House Museum. The new tribal headquarters in Okmulgee was built in the 1970's. Wewoka (Creek Ue-wohkv or "barking water") is the capital of the Seminole Nation. Many place names (Tulsa, Tallahassee, Wetumka, Eufaula, Weleetka, Sasakwa, Konawa) in Oklahoma, Florida, Alabama, and Georgia are Creek. Some people prefer the term 'Creek', and some prefer the term 'Muskogee'. The word in Creek is Maskoke. It has no other meaning. The term 'Creek' is slightly broader and is used here to include dialects spoken by Seminoles. Creek belongs to a family of languages called Muskogean: Muskogean Choctaw Chickasaw Alabama Koasati Hitchiti-Mikasuki Apalachee Creek The Muskogean family once stretched from Louisiana to Georgia and is the most important language family in the South. Much of eastern Oklahoma (four of the Five Civilized Tribes) is Muskogean territory. The languages are very different from each other--a little more different than Spanish and French. Because of this, it's thought that the language ancestral to the modern languages was spoken about 3,000 years ago. Missionaries began extensive work on Creek in Indian Territory in the 1800's. They taught students how to read and write, and with them developed a practical alphabet based in part on the English alphabet. Creek speakers published many laws and other materials before Oklahoma statehood. When Oklahoma became a state, Creek ceased to have the same importance it once did. Creek and Seminole lands in Indian Territory were parceled out to non-Creeks, so that Creek speakers no longer formed a contiguous group. As a result, Creek is an endangered language today. Most people who speak Creek are grandparents or great-grandparents. Few children are learning the language in schools. The language you are learning in this textbook is an ancient language. The opportunity you have to hear it and speak it is rare. We hope you have respect for the language and for those who wish to pass it on to others. 7 The alphabet ________________________________________________________ Vocabulary cokv book, newspaper, paper, vhv!kuce window letter mvhayv teacher eshoccickv pen, pencil cokv-h"cv student vhv!ke door cvh!cefkv my name ________________________________________________________ The Creek alphabet has been in use since 1853. We have added a few extra marks above and below vowels to help people learning the language. These are not used elsewhere. a ay! hawk. Long as in father. $kketv to bite. Short as in box. (Only found before h and k.) c cesse mouse. As in such. e "ck! roasted corn. Long as in feed. efv dog. Short as in hit. f fo bee. As in foot. h hal! tin can. As in heel. i ehiwv his wife. As in hey. L"tkis. I'm running. As in bed. (at the ends of sentences) k kapv coat. As in skin. l lucv turtle. As in low. m mesk" summer. As in mouse. n ner" night. As not. o ofv inside. Long as in code. !pv owl. Short as hotel. p penwv turkey. As in spin. 8 r rvr! fish. Not found in English: Say l, but force air over tongue. s svmpv basket. As in sound. t tvff! grasshopper. As in stop. u sutv sky. Short as in put. v vce corn. Short as in sofa. w wakv cow. As in wait. y yvnvsv buffalo. As in yet. Some vowels may be combined: ae Aeha! an exclamation. ie iemetv to hand to. v! vhv!ke door. eu c"meu you, too. ue uewv water. For English speakers, the difficult letters to remember are c, i, r, and v. Creek makes a distinction between short and long vowels. Long vowels are held longer. Listen carefully to the difference between the following: Short Long v, $ a e " u, ! o Ex. fvkv vine, f$kke soil fakv hunting ecke mother "ck! roasted corn cuk! house, c!kwv mouth cokv book The short vowels $ and ! are variants of v and u. They have a little more of the quality of a and o, but are short. Outside this course, some people spell them with v and u, and some people spell them with a and o. Vowels and diphthongs are sometimes nasal. These are written a!, o!, u!, "!, v!, etc. 9 Creek has tone: nake thing vs. nâke what. Consonants can be doubled, and then are held longer: et! tree cett! snake hvce tail hvcce stream ________________________________________________________ Exercises 1 Have your mvhayv say the following words several times and try to hear whether she's saying the (a) word, the (b) word, or the (c) word: a l$ksv hoof b laksv liar a fvkv vine b fakv hunting a hvce tail b hvcce river c hac" drunk a ele his/her foot b el" dead a ehe her husband b ehe! yes a nake thing b nâke what a h"ces he's looking at it b hêces he sees it Pair up and practice saying each until your partner can tell which you're saying.